Shifting the Blame East

Everything was quiet.

Li Pingsheng suddenly opened his eyes.

There was no killing intent, no sound of footsteps, and not even the sound of breathing.

Yet, something felt wrong.

The wind carried an unfamiliar scent—the smell of rust mixed with human blood.

Li Pingsheng felt as though someone was watching him from the shadows.

Someone had come, and they were coming for him.

He stretched his limbs, cracked his joints, and muttered, "The air is so stifling today, I can't even get a wink of sleep."

With that, Li Pingsheng pushed the door open and sauntered outside to get some fresh air.

Outside the courtyard, two dark figures clung to the shadows of the wall, motionless.

Seeing Li Pingsheng walk out so brazenly, both of them had mocking looks in their eyes.

A genius?

Fist intent just beginning to form?

In front of dead soldiers like them, who specialized in killing, he was just an inexperienced brat.

Finally, Li Pingsheng stopped under an old locust tree outside the courtyard.

The area was empty and secluded, far away from the courtyards of other True Disciple members.

It was a good place to make a move.

The two dead soldiers exchanged a glance and followed silently.

Li Pingsheng stood with his back to them, studying the weeds on the ground.

An opportunity.

The two men lunged out from the shadows, one from the left and one from the right.

Li Pingsheng smiled.

"I've been waiting for you for a long time."

Before he even finished speaking, his Wind Treading talent activated.

His figure blurred instantly, leaving only an afterimage behind.

His posture was strange as he shifted three feet to the side.

Two poisoned daggers pierced through the afterimage and collided with each other.

The strike missed.

The pupils of the two dead soldiers shrank violently.

How is this possible?

Was the intelligence wrong?

This footwork was not something a newcomer who had only practiced martial arts for half a month should possess.

Even the famous experts in the Inner City might not be able to achieve this speed and movement.

They became alert instantly and immediately wanted to retreat to reorganize their attack.

It was too late.

Li Pingsheng had already made his move and would not give them a chance.

"I just finished practicing a new move, and someone has delivered themselves to my doorstep to test it out. How thoughtful."

His Tiger Bone talent activated at full power.

A fierce surge of blood energy erupted from his body, and his entire presence changed instantly.

His tendons and bones cracked, his muscles bulged, and the surrounding air grew hot from his blood energy.

Li Pingsheng locked his gaze on the dead soldier to his left.

He exerted force through his feet, cracking the bluestone floor, and lunged forward.

In that life-or-death moment, the dead soldier forced out all his potential.

He dropped his dagger, crossed his arms to protect his chest, and tensed every muscle in his body, intending to take the blow head-on.

His arms had been soaked in special medicinal liquids and tempered; they were incredibly hard, and he was confident he could block ordinary blades.

But he was facing Li Pingsheng.

He was facing a killing move fused from three different lightning-attribute techniques.

"Thunderclap Explosion!"

Li Pingsheng's right fist was clenched tight, the veins on his arm bulging, and a flash of light danced across his knuckles.

A dull thud rang out.

The two arms of the assassin were struck by Li Pingsheng's fist and snapped instantly, white bone shards piercing through skin and flesh.

The fist shattered the arms blocking its path, its momentum undiminished as it slammed into the assassin's chest.

Another dull thud, and the assassin's chest caved in with a fist-shaped indentation.

The man flew backward, crashing into the courtyard wall, and by the time he slid down, he was already breathless.

Dead from a single punch.

The other assassin saw this scene, and only one thought remained in his mind:

Run!

Run as far as possible.

The youth before him was no human.

He turned and lunged toward the courtyard wall, toes tapping the ground as he vaulted upward, attempting to scale the wall and escape.

"Hmph, what are you thinking? You still want to leave now?"

The assassin's vision blurred; the figure that had been several yards away a moment ago was now standing right in front of him.

A hand, moving too fast for him to track, clamped onto his throat.

"Ugh..."

The assassin was hoisted into mid-air, legs flailing, his strength drained away as his face turned a deep, congested red.

He tried to resist, but the hand gripping his neck remained unmoved no matter how much he struggled.

"Do me a favor and tell me, who sent you?"

The man in black gritted his teeth, a flash of resolve in his eyes.

"As a death soldier, I have professional ethics."

Li Pingsheng had no interest in wasting time with him, his five fingers tightening slightly.

The sound of bones shifting echoed out.

Pain caused the assassin to convulse, his psychological defenses crumbling under the fear of death and torture.

"Hey, brother, wait..."

"Although I have professional ethics, my life is more important than anything."

"I'll talk... I'll talk..."

"It... it was the leader..." he squeezed the words from his throat, "Also Zhao... Zhao Ming... he put up five hundred taels..."

Zhao Ming.

Haha, how is it him again.

Li Pingsheng's gaze turned cold, and he showed no more mercy with his hand.

"Thank you for your hard work, goodbye."

With a crisp snap, the man in black's head hung limply.

Li Pingsheng released his grip, letting the corpse slide to the ground.

He crouched down and began to search the two bodies.

Soon, he pulled a cold, hard object from the chest of the second man in black.

Under the moonlight, he saw it was a piece of warm, fine jade, engraved with an archaic "Black" character.

This must be the token of the Black Water Gang.

Li Pingsheng placed the jade pendant on the grass, then pulled a small paper packet from his robe, sprinkling the white powder inside evenly over the two corpses.

As the powder touched them, the bodies began to corrode, quickly melting into yellowish-brown pools of blood, leaving only two dark stains on the ground.

This was the Corpse Dissolving Powder he had bought from the black market.

Zhao Ming...

Black Water Gang...

His original plan was to defeat Zhao Ming at the grand examination.

But now it seemed this guy couldn't wait.

Since the other party had broken the rules first, he shouldn't blame him for being ruthless.

Go and kill Zhao Ming directly?

No.

The commotion would be too great, and he wouldn't be able to escape.

The martial arts school had strict rules, and he didn't want to let a piece of trash affect his path to becoming stronger.

Then he would let the Black Water Gang do the killing.

A daring plan rapidly took shape in his mind.

The leader of the Black Water Gang had sent two death warriors bearing tokens to kill him, only for them to vanish.

What would the leader think?

He would certainly assume that he himself had killed those two death warriors.

But what if... those two death warriors had died at the hands of Zhao Ming?

Zhao Ming hired assassins, then, fearing the matter would be exposed or perhaps out of greed, killed them to silence them.

While disposing of the bodies, he accidentally dropped his own personal token at the scene.

And he, from beginning to end, was merely a victim.

When the leader of the Black Water Gang discovered that his two most trusted death warriors and the deposit were gone, and ultimately found only Zhao Ming's item, what would he think?

That Zhao Ming had swallowed the money and killed his men.

Given the Black Water Gang's style of conduct, they would absolutely fight Zhao Ming to the death.

Thinking of this...

Diverting the disaster.

This was the solution.

He needed a token of Zhao Ming's, something that could prove his identity and was sufficiently personal.

Li Pingsheng cast a glance in the direction of the Zhao Family Estate.